County approves nearly $800,000 in funds for Matthew’s Hope bus

For Matthew’s Hope Ministries’ founder Scott Billue, Christmas came a few weeks early — and in the form of an Orange County approval that paves the way for the homeless ministry’s work in 2026.

The Orange County Commission unanimously approved Matthew’s Hope Ministries’ $787,560 request to bring a sleeper bus to Orange County. 

“I’m pretty excited about it,” Billue said. 

This will mark the first sleeper bus in Orange County and the fourth sleeper bus altogether. 

“I’m so thrilled to support (Billue) and the homeless outreach efforts of Matthew’s Hope and the unbelievable dedication he has to improving people’s lives,” Orange County Commissioner Nicole Wilson said. 

The bus will accommodate up to 20 homeless people and two animals. The sleeping pods are set up with an electrical outlet to charge phones, as well as light and climate control. 

Billue said each bus will have a driver and a certified security guard, as well. 

The bus itself costs around $200,000. The remainder of the almost $600,000 will go toward insurance fees, fuel, drivers, security guards and upkeep of the bus. 

He said this sleeper bus was much needed in the area, especially after House Bill 1365 went into effect. That law prohibits the homeless from sleeping or camping in the streets. 

The city of Apopka was the first city to approve the bus. 

“They’ve given me some different properties that Apopka owns, along with the ability to partner with just about anybody I want to within city limits that’s willing to be a host site,” Billue said. 

Locations will be unknown to anyone other than staff. Those have yet to be picked for Orange County. 

“We’ll pick them up but then we take them to an undisclosed location — we do that at nightfall,” he said. “As soon as the sun starts coming up, we leave.” 

This prevents just anyone from showing up, as reservations are required to spend the night on the bus. One person can reserve three nights at a time. 

“The reason for that is science has proven it takes about three days to reset your body clock when you aren’t getting the proper amount of rest,” Billue said. “We’re trying to address that, and this is how we’re able to do it.” 

Billue said the idea came to him nearly 16 years ago when the ministry started. 

“The first time I was exposed to something like this was in Europe,” he said. “So when we first started almost 16 years ago, one of my thoughts was, ‘What if we took a bus and made it look like a sleeper car?’ Instead of building a bus years ago, I ended up building a shower trailer, because I thought it was a more immediate need.”

When HB 1365 went into law October 2024, the ministry revisited the idea. 

Although he said this won’t solve the homelessness crisis, it will help a large portion of the homeless. 

It is estimated the sleeper bus will service about 2,000 people per year. 

The fastest growing homeless population are baby boomers, followed by people with physical and mental disabilities who have outlived their caregivers, followed by young families with children. 

“We’re seeing more young families with children than we have in probably 10 years,” Billue said. “It’s going to take more than Matthew’s Hope building buses or transitional homes to be able to address this, but I’ve always run this mission by saying, ‘Do what you can, not what you can’t, but do something.’” 

Billue’s hope is to have Orange County’s sleeper bus up and running by the end of the first quarter of 2026 and then to expand to cities such as Winter Garden, Ocoee, Orlando and more in the future. 

“I didn’t go in with the plan of doing just one bus,” Billue said.